


Momentary

by comefeedtherainn



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, M/M, i had some feelings and i threw up on a word doc about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-08
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-14 00:03:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16902270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/comefeedtherainn/pseuds/comefeedtherainn
Summary: "You are a good, kind man, Alexios. You deserve a good, kind man."





	Momentary

Athens was bustling, even in the dead of night. An easy wind passed through the otherwise humid air, a relief as it whispered through the windows of the small bedroom. Alexios lay quiet, still bare and stretched out in the bed as he contemplatively watched the stars in the sky.

“So quiet, after all that screaming. One would think you had something on your mind.”

Alexios snorted quietly, glancing over as Alkibiades rolled onto his back, stretching out like a cat and audibly cracking his back in a couple of places. He took a moment to admire his form, soft and warm and clean of scarring.

“Sorry. I was just thinking.”

“Aren’t you always?” Alkibiades teased, winking playfully up at him.

Alexios grunted in agreement, lifting the corner of his mouth and pushing himself up to sit properly. “I…wanted to tell you something.”

“Oh,” Alkibiades breathed, grinning as he sat up as well, mirroring his posture. “A secret, is it? Well, don’t keep me in suspense!”

Alexios took a breath through his nose, looking out the window again as he gathered his courage, before turning his head to face the man beside him again. “I love you,” he told him quietly.

Fuck, what a relief to finally get it out. He felt lighter in the chest already, a smile pulling at his lips.

Alkibiades didn’t smile. His grin fell, melting into a look of pity. The light feeling disappeared as quickly as it had come.

“Oh, Alexios,” Alkibiades sighed, his eyes sad. “No, you don’t.”

He bristled, the tone making him feel like a placated child. “I’m a grown man,” Alexios told him firmly. “I know how I feel well enough.”

Alkibiades sighed, shaking his head with that same pitying expression, pulling his full lips in between his teeth. “This has gone on for too long,” he murmured. “I’ve been cruel.”

“I don’t understand,” Alexios pressed, embarrassed anger twisting in his gut. “You…I don’t…”

He paused as a warm, soft palm rested on his cheek, Alkibiades’ thumb brushing underneath his eye. “You have been so helpful, and wonderful,” he said emphatically, the words only making Alexios feel worse. “But this is not in the cards. What you know of me is what I have allowed you to know. This…what you want, it will never happen for me. I only wish I hadn’t let it go on for so long, I never wanted to hurt you, my darling.”

“But that,” Alexios said a bit more harshly, pulling away from him. “That, why do you call me things like that? If it was nothing, why have you toyed with me?”

Alkibiades’ expression crumpled for just a moment, the corners of his mouth turning down and his eyebrows pinching in. Like he was in pain.

“It was not my intention. I…” He took another deep breath, wiping the expression as quickly as it had come and sitting up straighter. “You are a good, kind man, Alexios,” he murmured. “You deserve a good, kind man. I am neither. I aim too high to be either.”

“I don’t believe that.”

“Do you believe I am lying to you?”

“You’ve done it before.”

Alkibiades breathed a soft, melancholy laugh through his nose. “I suppose that makes my point.”

Alexios swallowed thickly, his face a bit hot and his heart pounding. “I just thought…” He scoffed quietly. “I don’t know what I thought.”

It was silent for several long minutes. Alexios wasn’t sure where the hell to go from there. He couldn’t stay, now, not after that display. But that meant that, if he left, he would never be with Alkibiades again. He wouldn’t allow himself. Too much pride, or perhaps it was shame. Shame at being played like a fiddle, like he had been time and time again.

“I have to go,” he murmured eventually, getting to his feet and quickly changing back into his armor. The breeze through the window was frigid, now, as the hour grew late.

Alkibiades did not try to stop him, watching him with those same sad eyes. Alexios thought they looked a little more shiny than usual, but he didn’t point it out. He paused at the door, making a show of adjusting his belt to buy himself time to steady himself.

“Find someone else to run your errands,” he said lowly. “I…can’t.”

Alkibiades didn’t respond except to smile, looking more exhausted than Alexios had ever seen him. “Be safe, my darling.”

Without another word, Alexios ducked out of the room, hurrying down the stairs and onto the lamp lit street.


End file.
